The historical origins, philosophical assumptions, and political implications of contemporary feminist theories, including conservative, liberal, radical and ecological feminist theories.
Athena Title
Intro to Feminist Theories
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in WMST 4010W
Prerequisite
WMST 3010 or WMST 3010W or WMST 3110 or WMST 3110W
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students in this course will identify and analyze central philosophical, ethical, and political issues that characterize feminist theories.
Students in this course will engage in critical thinking of theoretical texts to explore underlying assumptions about the subjects and intents of feminist theory.
Students in this course will engage in fostering a community of learning to create and innovate a project related to feminist theories.
Topical Outline
Introduction to feminist theory. Overview of issues raised by the project of creating feminist theory, including definitions of key terms such as "woman," "women," "feminism," "sex," and "gender"; discussion of the subject matter of "theory" in relation to concepts of intellectual truth and political accountability; development of a list of standard questions used to interrogate all theories under consideration. II. Feminist frameworks. Reading on the history, underlying assumptions, and central assertions of feminist theories. III. Recent developments in feminist theory. IV. Disciplinary approaches to feminist theory. Presentation of student analyses of influential texts in their respective disciplines, drawn from a brief annotated bibliographies provided to the class as a whole. V. Current issues in feminist theory
